IBM and Oracle announced a significant expansion of their long-standing technology partnership, aiming to advance the deployment of agentic AI and hybrid cloud solutions across enterprise environments. At the heart of the collaboration is the integration of IBM’s watsonx AI portfolio with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), a move expected to enhance productivity, scalability, and operational intelligence for joint customers, according to an IBM statement.
The new agreement will see IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate — an AI-driven agent management tool — become available on OCI in July. The solution will enable customers to develop and manage multi-agent workflows that span both Oracle and non-Oracle systems, using AI to automate complex business processes. The initiative is designed to complement Oracle’s AI Agent Studio for Fusion Applications and other native OCI generative AI services.
“AI delivers the most impactful value when it works seamlessly across an entire business,” said Greg Pavlik, Executive Vice President of AI and Data Management Services at Oracle. “This expanded partnership offers customers a powerful new way to transform operations with AI.”
IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate agents will run on Red Hat OpenShift deployed within OCI environments, including public, sovereign, and government cloud regions, supporting data privacy and regulatory requirements. The agents can also operate in on-premises and multicloud infrastructures, delivering true hybrid cloud capabilities.
In a further step, Oracle plans to host IBM’s Granite AI models — known for being compact and efficient — within OCI’s Data Science platform via AI Quick Actions, beginning in the second half of 2025. The Granite models will be accessible as cached large language models (LLMs), offering developers more flexibility in choosing fit-for-purpose AI tools.
IBM’s watsonx.ai platform, now certified for OCI, will also be integrated into Oracle’s cloud ecosystem. This enterprise-grade AI development studio allows organizations to build, run, and manage AI applications at scale, leveraging OCI’s powerful infrastructure.
Additionally, the IBM Envizi ESG Suite — an AI-powered tool for tracking and reporting sustainability metrics — will be made available on OCI, with an initial rollout in Saudi Arabia within the next year.
IBM Consulting will play a central role in the expanded collaboration by offering services that help enterprises orchestrate agentic AI ecosystems. These services will focus on integrating and scaling AI agents, optimizing operating models, and managing change across various industries including HR and supply chain. The consultancy will also assist in migrating on-premises workloads to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization on OCI, modernizing infrastructures for AI and multicloud readiness.
“By integrating our AI with Oracle’s offerings, we’re enabling businesses to easily deploy and manage AI agents across their enterprise,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., Senior Vice President at IBM. “This collaboration illustrates our commitment to helping clients scale AI seamlessly.”
Oracle and IBM plan to pilot a joint go-to-market approach in selected regions to promote these services and expand customer reach. Backed by nearly four decades of collaboration and recent acquisitions of Oracle consultancies Accelalpha and Applications Software Technology LLC, IBM brings significant Oracle expertise to the partnership.
Experts highlight the strategic potential of agentic AI. “The Agentic AI approach IBM is taking with Oracle is a leading example of how orchestrating AI workflows across systems can unlock growth and streamline operations,” said Ritu Jyoti, Group VP at IDC.
This deepened collaboration marks a major step toward enterprise-wide AI deployment, offering businesses powerful tools to innovate, adapt, and thrive in a rapidly evolving digital economy.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
